The present disclosure generally relates to the management of mobile applications and mobile advertisements for a network accessible device and the selection of an interactive content item, such as an advertisement or other sponsored content, based on the age of the network accessible device.
Advertisers provide advertisements in different forms in order to attract customers. An advertisement (“ad”) is a piece of information designed to be used in whole or in part by a user, for example, a consumer. Ads can be provided in electronic form. For example, online ads can be provided as banner ads on a web page, as ads presented with search results, or as ads presented in a mobile application.
Mobile applications (“mobile apps”) are a class of software routines executable on various types of portable network accessible devices such as smart phones, tablets, netbooks, PDAs, etc. Some mobile applications, often referred to as native applications (“native apps”), are pre-installed on mobile devices prior to purchase. Other mobile apps are selectively downloadable by a user, allowing the user to customize the device based on personal preferences. Mobile apps can take a variety of forms such as games, communication programs, daily planners, ebook readers, geopositioning trackers, alert systems, etc.
Mobile apps are often created by developers and offered for download through an online source such as an “app store.” Developers may offer mobile apps for free or for a nominal amount, and rely on other mechanisms such as embedded advertising (e.g., “mobile ads”) to generate revenue to cover the cost of the mobile app development.
Advertising campaigns may be cost-per-click based (i.e., the advertiser pays for the click). An advertiser looks for ways to maximize the conversion rate (i.e., percentage of users downloading the app after they click on the ad), so that the advertiser may get the maximum return on their investment. Accordingly, a need exists to improve both the click-through rate and the conversion rates for advertising campaigns.